J. Peerce & R. Merrill in Duet from La forza del destino

[1salvatoremartorana]

non si capisce una parola

[anziotiamo]

something of the ancients in the exqiuisitely sharp tones of Jan Peerce

[31122051]

Tipico esempio di cantanti vocalmente talentati che però non si rendono conto neppure lontamente di cosa stanno cantando ( dizione e pronuncia ORRENDE, in altre parole ). Peerce soprattutto è palesemente RIDICOLO. Ascoltatevi dei signori di nome F. Corelli, G. Giacomini, G. Guelfi, E. Bastiani e compagnia bella, poi capirete meglio che razza di SCEMPIO è questo.

[gaytenor]

Jan Peerce was in his early 60s here and the voice is still solid as Oak and its richness and, at times, the squillo of his top notes would shame tenors far, far younger than him

[Mooorhe]

Gosh, Peerce's phrasing and diction are horrible.

[Lovelytenor1]

Sadly most of us remember Peerce for the recordings done late in his life where his voice was over-focused/nasal( the cantorial technique can have its drawbacks). A friend gave me some of his earliest recordings. From that one can say, "Oh, now I see why he became a star". As a fellow tenor I can say the voice was simply beautiful!!!

[gaytenor]

@Lovelytenor1: I heard Peerce in person several times and the voice was NOT NASAL or overfocused. Peerce is 63 years old here and except for the first b-flat which is somewhat constricted he sounds very good indeed. Your remarks seem to suggest that Peerce was overrated by fans and critics for years. Try Handel arias, Cantorial Masterpieces, Fidelio, Great Operatic Arias, etc. Try the posting on youtube of the live performance of E la solita storia from the met in 68 to hear a lovely voice.

[Lovelytenor1]

@gaytenor Not at all. I have friends who knew him & also said the voice was not nasal in the house, just in recording late in life. His "Il mio Tesoro" is a vocal hallmark, both the early recording & those late in life..

[gaytenor]

@Mooorhe Well Dr. Know-it-all strikes again! Peerce always had great diction and his phrasing was called a model of Verdian singing by Lord Harewood(sp?). To be right to the point you do not know what the hell you are talking about. Get a life and learn what good Verdi phrasing is before you illustrate your ignorance. Go listen to Pavarotti whom I'm sure is a stylistic paragon of virtue.

[AUDIOPHlLE]

Looks like you either gotta pull your head out of your ass or your head out of your secret boyfriend's ass so you can actually hear. Wait, why is anyone bothered by this troubled teenager/fat man fan's opinion?

[VinylToVideo]

How is it that I've been watching this video all day yet your channel shows no videos? I hope you have both channels up and running again soon!

[Oneguin65]

You are vey welcome VinylToVideo. TY

[operacaster]

i wish i could tell you about my meeting bob merrill.... you want to talk about ''mr normal guy...'' he was the definition of normal. he had studied his whole life with a man named margolis who was also my teachers teacher. so i always felt we had a lineage in learning how to sing. listen to his vowels. they're about as pure as can be.... also, he was a great great singer of songs. and could be a very kind man. at least he was to me....

[operacaster]

i met jan in about 68. he was doing a piano concert with roberta peters in my home town. i found out that he was going to cantor friday services at the biggest temple in my hometown. it was free and packed. when i met him he came up to about my mid chest.  shook hands with everyone although his hand was bandaged. he was so very small i was shocked. he sounded great and was one of the reasons i took up this profession.. 40 some years later it's still a memory of my life.... :--)

[Lovelytenor1]

I met Tucker after one of his concerts. When I told him I was one of the young tenors who came to hear him, he paused the line & spent a couple minutes w/me. He was delighted to hear I was studying w/a cantor. He was a lovely man.

[operacaster]

how much older was peerce than tucker? as for bob merrill being accoustics.... yes, wherever he opened that horn up seemed to have phenominal accoustics... :--) get what i mean.

what a time it was. merrill, bastianini, warren and others. not quite like today

[stevevandien]

Peerce was born in 1904, Tucker in 1913 --

[halavey]

Well tucker came along later and was younger and it is too long a story and too involved to get into here. You can read Drake's book

and Jan's. Needless to say, as time went on, with the help of fans gossiping to each tenor, things got worse.

[halavey]

In 1944 without a second audition unknown to Tucker, Johnson then met. manager went to the Temple and heard this young Cantor from Brooklyn and then hired him for Gioconda,Tucker studied the role for several months with the cond. Emil Cooper and in 1945 jan.25th made his debut. He was an instant success and wound up singing 30 roles at the met. He knew a few more but died in 1975 at age 61.

[ShawDAMAN]

I've heard a bunch of times they didn't like each other but I've never heard why exactly? Just professional rivalry? Was Peerce jealous of Tucker? Or did they just not get along period?

[HMW]

it's because peerce, who was at the time already an established singer, was originally skeptical of tucker's operatic potential, and did little to help him advance

[halavey]

Jan Peerce never helped Tucker get a met audition if he did I would love to know how? I knew both men personally and Jan told me he referred Tucker to Althouse but that was it. We did discuss it, later they did not get along at all but tucker made it on his own with no inside help at all So much talk  goes on about them and much of it is just not true. They respected each other as singers but really did not like each other at all especially later on.

[halavey]

Peerce did not encourage tucker at all he only hooked him up with Althouse but he did not play any part in his met career and in fact they did not really like each other. Tucker did very well in the met auditions of the air in 1942 he came in second, hell Sills tried about 9 times for NYC opera and she was great! These critics are not always right. Tucker was a cantor and had a great career as such in Brooklyn - a big Temple but he went to the met in 1945 and was a huge success on his own.

[Apollogranforte]

Crickey....How good was that!

[bradleyjenks]

FINALMEEEEEEEEENNNTTTEEEE!! Merrill rocks.

[gahualli]

Merrill for people with ears... one of the most beautiful instruments that has ever walk earth!

[GermanOperaSinger]

Splendid...Peerce is a textbook lyric tenor with a splendid middle register, almost baritonal in timbre. Merrill there was never a greater baritone voice in my opinion. I prefer the Tucker Merrill version however.

[2ManyHighCs]

I have to agree with what you say. Merill was amazing. Period. And to have to such "house tenors" as Pierce and Tucker even to compare. . .I mean. . .what a time in Met Opera history that was. I have one thing to say. S-I-G-H !!!!

[AUDIOPHlLE]

I see and agree with what you're saying but neither Peerce and certainly not Tucker were "house singers." Amara was (why I don't know, what a fantastic singer) but not Peerce or Tucker.

[jrzy12]

very good

[pearlmuth3]

Sorry for being cut off here but Sara and Richard did not stay close later on with Jan because of two very different men and gossip from fans that reached both men about each other, I knew them both personally and they respected each other as singers but had no love lost, did not like one another at all. Read Leonardo Ciampa's soft back book THE TWILIGHT OF BEL CANTO for more about them and many other great singers and technique. I would not go into the feud here. His book is available on net.

[pearlmuth3]

Yes Sra Jan's sister married Tucker in 1936 before he was an opera star, then a Cantor in a

[km2711]

Jan Peerce and Robert Merill both lived in New Rochelle, but were not related. I used to see Robert Merrill many times up at a local donut shop in the northern part of New Rochelle..very amicable and friendly.

I met Jan Peerce on a cruise on the SS Rotterdam back in the late '70s. He performed on it and was very gracious in having me back stage. Later that month, I brought a picture of the both of us backstage on the ship...

Good memories with this posting--Thanks!

[AggiedeLampedusa]

Oh dear, very "shout-y"!!!

[semprelibra]

I agree, but could the acoustics be partly to blame?

[bcfms1]

If I am not mistaken these gentlemen were brother-in-laws. That had to be some awesome family gatherings - musically.

[Richiesutherland]

Actually, it was Peerce and TUCKER who were brothers-in-law, and, sadly, did not like each other. I've never known what the problem was--Peerce virtually ignores Tucker in his autobiography. It no doubt had to do with two great tenors, one being a slightly bigger star (Tucker) in the same family.  Merrill sounds gorgeous here--what a glorious sound he makes on the word "Finalmente!"

[rm946]

I understand it was because Peerce discouaraged, or at least was not encouranging to, Tucker about his beginning an operatic career. But that might not be true.

[VinylToVideo]

Since it was Peerce who both introduced Tucker to his teacher Paul Althouse and later further helped him get a Met audition, I doubt it. Peerce thought Tucker wasn't ready (which he apparently wasn't as his first "audition of the air" didn't go so well) but surely Tucker proved himself later!

[AnnaSimmonds]

In that case, I stand corrected! Thank you.

[rothaich6]

These are two of the immortal greats....and Merrill was a great American. I have a splendid Christmas Album -he loved patriotic songs and Christmas songs and of course he was Jewish...but in doing so he honored America and his many Christian friends and neighbors. I saw him live at concerts and of course at Yankee Stadium. OLD MUNRO

[steainsy]

absolutely phenomenal. I love this video!

[art724]

I never saw Jan Peerce in person but I fell in love with his voice when I played an old 33 that my father had of him singing Ch'ella Mi Creda from Fanciulla. A very underrated tenor. I wish there were more clips on YouTube.